The preceding has primarily focused on the parents’ perspective. What about the
children? Without their co-operation and interest home education will not work. They
need to be consulted and should participate in the decisions made about their education
from the very beginning.
Their understanding of this process will depend on age. Even young children can, and
should, have input, allowing them the opportunity to experience control and direction of
their own education. This is good for developing self-motivation and responsibility for
their own learning processes.
Some considerations relating to children learning at home are as follows:
Does the child want to be at home? Young children, who have not been to school
or preschool will not usually question continuing to be at home. Children taken
out of school may have questions or concerns. They need to understand what being
at home all day will mean for them, both possible positive and negative outcomes,
in order to feel comfortable about the decision. Acknowledgement of, or
reassurances about, their concerns need to be followed up by action.
Disappointment can lead to an unnecessary early rejection of learning at home.
Some children may develop an intense curiosity about school, and many home
schooled children love to play ‘schools’. It is important to present school as an
alternative form of education which many families choose for many different
reasons. Even if you have had unhappy school experiences in the past, it is
important to keep this in perspective. Your children might need to attend school in
the future for many reasons - making schools an unattractive option will only cause
unnecessary stress. Sometimes home educated children need to satiate their
curiosity by visiting schools, or even attending them for a while. There is nothing
unusual about this, and parents should not feel they have failed at home schooling.
Children are, by nature, curious and accepting of differences.
All children need reassurance they are okay or ‘normal’. Socialising is an
important aspect of child development, probably the most important. Children
need access to other children in all kinds of situations and environments. Often
home educating parents have to go out of their way to locate opportunities for their
children to socialise. Making friends with other home schooling children is
important, and maintaining contact with other friends needs to be fostered and
encouraged. Very often children will be most happy if they can have regular access
to one or two special friends, and a variety of social experiences. There is no need
to duplicate the social environment of school, and with minimal effort it is easy to
create superior social and learning environments for your children.
Children leaving school need time to adapt, and to find the independence and
self-motivation needed for successful home learning. At home, with the advantage
of personal tutoring, there is more time available for children to occupy themselves
without supervision or direction. Often children will need to re-learn the skills to
do this. This may mean some children will need to adjust their perception of what
learning is and how it happens, from passive instruction or group interaction, to
one of active exploration, investigation or personal reflection. Most home
educated children are required to have an increased level of input into the direction
and responsibility of their learning. Understanding the educational role of play and
ordinary household chores in children’s lives can help to alleviate concern. If
parents can learn to understand the important role of play and general home life
with its varied ‘chores’, in children’s education can help both parents and children
adapt to the new routines and activities.
Learning to cope with solitude can be difficult for well-schooled youngsters, but
has many advantages and is essential for healthy development. Parents need to be
patient and sympathetic, realising ‘boredom’ needs to be addressed constructively.
It can be at this stage parents have to ‘sacrifice’ their own time to help their
youngsters adjust to their new life, but time spent helping children to find
meaningful activities and new friends is well rewarded.
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